Starting quarterback Randy McCown endured injury, demotion and frustration in his three years of competing with Branndon Stewart to be the Aggies' quarterback. Now Smith and Farris will compete to be his understudy.

"The way I looked at it last year was there were no real challengers and I could go straight to being the backup," Smith said. "Now it's been kind of like a roller-coaster.

"Instead of just learning Xs and Os, you are fighting for your life."

Smith, 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, is a classic dropback passer with a strong arm.

He competed in basketball, baseball, track and golf in high school and has demonstrated good scrambling ability for his size.

Still, in the final days of preparation for Saturday's season opener against Louisiana Tech, coach R.C. Slocum hasn't decided who will be the backup.

The Aggies signed Farris in 1994 as part of an elite recruiting class that included Dat Nguyen, Dan Campbell and Warrick Holdman, all drafted by the NFL after last season.

"If something happened to Randy, I feel like we could take the other two guys and go through this season and not be just dead in the water," Slocum said. "Either of those guys would be able to go out and play quarterback for us."

Farris, 6-2 and 212, also has a strong arm. He was nicknamed "The Rifleman" in high school at Angleton.

But baseball beckoned after high school and he agreed to an $840,000 signing bonus to play in the Pittsburgh Pirates' organization.

Farris never forgot about football and, finally, too many long minor-league seasons in small towns persuaded him to come home.

"When the minor-league season ended, I'd be in some hotel room in Chattanooga, Tenn., or somewhere sitting there watching a football game and wishing I could be there," Farris said.

"In the minor leagues, nobody cares about you, and the seasons are so long. It was the lifestyle I didn't like.

"Baseball is the only sport where you have a game every day and don't ever get a day off for seven months.

"I had to go home to feel like I belonged to something."

So, five years later, a matured Farris came home to be with his wife and 4-year-old daughter to begin a new career.

"I think I could progress quicker if I had the security of having the job," Smith said. "But the way it is now, if you get an opportunity and screw up, it's not a good situation."

The competition is clean.

"We are good friends," Smith said. "I think half of it is that he's older than me. If it were two 19-year olds, we'd probably be going at each other, but we don't have problems. I call him uncle."

McCown could be a good model for Smith and Farris. McCown didn't back down from his challenge with Stewart.

He got the starting job against Texas Tech in 1997, lost it and got it back early last season.

Then he suffered a broken collarbone in a 26-24 loss to Texas and watched the heartwarming return of Stewart, who led the Aggies to an overtime victory against Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference championship game.

"Randy's given me a lot of good advice," Smith said. "He's been through twice as much as I have, and look at him now. He's fine. He's kind of like a mentor."